Space

Sally Kristen Ride took her place in history on June 18, 1983, blasting into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle "Challenger", the first American woman in space. Ride, 61, lost a 17-month battle with cancer on July 23.

A NASA test July 23 proved that an inflatable heat shield can stand up to the searing heat of atmospheric reentry, proving in the real world a concept with promise to facilitate travel to other planets--and a lightweight alternative to heavy heat shields protecting capsules returning to Earth.

A nation of space enthusiasts still smarting from the end of the space shuttle program may look forward to 2014, when NASA plans the first orbital test of the Orion space capsule, designed to carry astronauts to asteroids, Mars, and elsewhere in the solar system.

While there is no pay phone on Mars, Curiosity might end up needing one, at least for a little while. With less than three weeks left in a journey of 352 million miles from Earth to Mars, the Mars Science Laboratory rover is lined up for an always-risky landing, one that predecessors have failed more often than not.

The gateway to civilian space travel is quickly taking shape in the New Mexico desert, and Spaceport America celebrated landing a certificate of occupancy for its operations center with a new website, logo, and a promise of expanded tours for the curious this summer.

Engineers and scientists from a broad range of disciplines gathered in Colorado June 26 through 28 to reflect on past and future achievements, and be formally introduced to a new nonprofit organization chosen by NASA to manage the science taking place in the U.S. National Laboratory aboard the International Space Station.

The National Geographic Society has chosen Barrington Irving, the youngest pilot to circumnavigate the world in history, among 2012's Emerging Explorers. Irving's next mission will be flying around the world at 45,000 feet in an Embraer while beaming live lessons to students.

A combination of in-flight calibration and improved simulations have allowed NASA and its partners to plan a more precise landing on Mars by Curiosity, mankind's first rover with tools to drill into rock - including one in particular that researchers are "quite fond of."

Scaled Composites has secured FAA permission to light the rocket motor on SpaceShipTwo in flight, clearing the way for continued tests of a vehicle designed to carry Virgin Galactic passengers to space.

Engineers at the NASA Langley Research Center who developed synthetic vision technology are now working to put it right before your eyes. A head-worn display that tracks your gaze and is mounted on an ordinary eyeglass frame promises to project critical information, including traffic and terrain, in zero visibility.

The remains of an asteroid similar to those that may have launched life on Earth crashed into Northern California on April 22. NASA scientist Peter Jenniskens hopes to collect footage from terrestrial security and surveillance cameras to track down missing pieces.

A successful test of parachutes that will safely ease the Orion manned spacecraft to landing was overshadowed by the final flight of the space shuttle Discovery on April 17. In Houston, the Arizona desert, and elsewhere, Orion's test and development crew, many of them pilots, were focused on the future.

The space shuttle 'Discovery' appeared over the treeline atop its carrier aircraft, a modified Boeing 747, to an eruption of applause from thousands of visitors who lined the parking lot of the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center April 17 to witness its last flight.

Two weeks ahead of the first planned attempt to rendezvous a commercial spacecraft with the International Space Station, all systems are go, and officials from NASA and private contractor SpaceX are keeping their fingers crossed.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), a commercial group that develops rockets and spacecraft, is proposing to build vertical launch and control areas in Cameron County, Texas, to conduct up to 12 commercial launches a year.

Seventy-five years after Amelia Earhart's disappearance in the Pacific, a nonprofit group has announced it will launch the most intensive effort yet to find pieces of her wrecked airplane and solve the mystery of where her flight ended.

The interaction of wind and charged electrical particles 60 to 65 miles from the surface has been associated with satellite failures and radio communication interference. NASA wants to better understand why.